8AM-9AM
Registration & Continental Breakfast

9AM-9:15AM
Welcome and Opening Remarks

9:15AM-10:15AM
Brain Connections

10:15AM-10:30AM
Refreshment break

10:30AM-11:30AM
Brain Connections continued

11:30AM-12:30PM
Lunch (provided)

12:45PM-1:45PM
Overcoming Barriers to Change

1:45PM-2:45PM
Topic TBA

2:45PM-3PM
Refreshment Break

3PM-4:30PM
Motivational Interviewing for Clients with Gambling Disorder

Cindy Anderson, MSW, LCSW, ICGC-I, Founder and Executive Director People Works-New Mexico

This workshop addresses a helping professional’s need for a panoramic view of the interiors and exteriors of a gambler’s life while not neglecting the impact of our own interiors/exteriors. This presentation provides an overview of issues to look for: comorbidities, the shame and stigma associated with gambling disorder, and need for assessment and intervention in multiple domains of a gambler’s life. As a helping professional, willingness to converse about difficult subjects such as trauma, shame, sex, cultural influences, and money become critical.

Iris Balodis, PhD, McMaster University and Deirdre Querney, MSW, City of Hamilton’s Alcohol, Drug & Gambling Services

The session explores common gambling queries: “Why do I keep gambling when it’s not fun anymore?” “Why do I feel like I need to gamble?” “How do slot machine features affect my brain?” How do you answer these kinds of questions? This session describes Brain Connections (www.brainconnections.ca): free clinical handouts for healthcare professionals and educational handouts for the public about gambling addiction and the brain. Come to this session and increase your confidence and competence in talking about gambling neurobiology!

David Hodgins, PhD, University of Calgary

This presentation will review Motivational Interviewing (MI) principles and their use with different levels of client readiness to change. Although MI utilizes specific therapeutic strategies/tools, it is fundamentally a style of interpersonal interaction rather than a scripted protocol. As such, an MI-style can be used in any encounter by therapists and non-therapists alike to facilitate service engagement and behavior change. This training will provide a review and practice of MI principles and skills.

Michael Wohl, PhD, Carleton University

Behavior change is a challenging endeavor undertaken by millions annually, with most attempts failing. Many individuals refuse to alter their unhealthy habits, leading to self-harm and impacting others. This presentation explores leveraging nostalgia—a sentimental yearning for the past—to facilitate behavior change. It emphasizes using nostalgic reflections on a pre-addiction life as a powerful, yet underexplored, motivator. Additionally, it delves into the potential negative aspects of nostalgia for individuals in recovery.